Intro.
#Seven Document Types: Same Company, Completely Different Materials
A single company needs at least six or seven distinct 'about us' documents. Each has a different audience, and each audience wants to see something different. If you turn your business plan into a single PDF and carry it to every meeting, it won't work anywhere.
| Document | Audience | Length | The Core Question It Must Answer |
|---|
| Company brochure | General customers, partners | 5-10 pages | What does your company sell? |
| HR recruiting deck | Job applicants | 10-15 pages | Why should I work here? |
| Government grant application | Reviewers, evaluating agencies | 20-50 pages (fixed template) | Why does this business serve the program's policy goals? |
| 5-minute demo day pitch | A large audience, press | 10-12 slides | What's compelling within the first minute? |
| Cold email attachment (executive summary) | Investors (initial screening) | 3-5 page PDF | Is this worth a follow-up meeting? |
| First-meeting pitch deck | 1-2 deal-team investors | ~15 slides, excluding appendix | Core business model + team + funding amount and timing |
| Investment-committee deck | Multiple other partners and associates | 30+ slides, excluding appendix | Why should our fund deploy capital into this company? |
TIP
A business plan is a document that organizes the business itself. A pitch deck is material built to secure an investment decision. Their purposes are different — a well-organized business plan doesn't automatically produce a finished pitch deck.
02
#Seven Critical Differences, Summarized
Here are the seven critical differences that separate a business plan, government application, or company brochure from a pitch deck. If even one of these seven still carries a business-plan tone, an investor will conclude: 'this person isn't ready to raise money.'
| Axis | Business Plan / Government Application | Pitch Deck |
|---|
| ① Audience | Reviewers, evaluating agencies | Investors (deal lead + other partners) |
| ② Length | 20-50 pages (fixed template) | 15 slides for a first meeting / 30+ for an investment committee |
| ③ Order | Fixed template order (company -> business -> market -> financials) | Company Purpose -> Problem -> Solution -> Why Now -> Market -> Competition -> Business Model -> Team -> Financial -> Vision |
| ④ Tone | Policy language (policy alignment, job creation, exports) | Investor language (TAM/SAM/SOM, MoM growth, CAC, LTV, Unfair Advantage) |
| ⑤ Depth of numbers | Total project cost, grant amount, matching-fund ratio | Burn rate, 3-year financials, funding ask, unit economics |
| ⑥ Team slide placement | Appendix at the very back, or abbreviated | In the main body, right after business model and market (slide H) |
| ⑦ Final page | "Thank you" + project timeline | The ask (amount needed, use of funds, milestones, vision) |
주의
Items ⑥ and ⑦ are the ones most likely to still carry a business-plan tone. Burying the team in an appendix is like serving a bun with no filling, and ending on a page that just says 'thank you' leaves the investor's real question — 'so how much do you actually need?' — unanswered.
03
#The Pitch Deck's 10-Section Structure: How It Differs from a Business Plan's Table of Contents
Here are the 10 sections that Korean seed-to-Pre-A VCs treat as the standard pitch deck structure. The critical difference from a government application's 'company status -> business overview -> market analysis -> implementation plan -> financial plan' order is that a pitch deck gives 'Why Now' and 'Vision' their own dedicated slides.
| # | Section | One-Line Definition |
|---|
| A | Company Purpose | Why the company exists — one declarative sentence |
| B | Problem | The customer's current pain point (persona, value chain) |
| C | Solution | The core value delivered to customers + a concrete use case |
| D | Why Now | Why this market is forming in earnest right now |
| E | Market Potential | TAM / SAM / SOM calculation |
| F | Competition | Direct and indirect competitors + your unfair advantage |
| G | Business Model | Revenue model + core metrics by category (MAU, MRR, CAC, LTV) |
| H | Team | Co-founders and key members (name + background/experience + equity) |
| I | Financial | 3-year revenue plan + burn rate + funding ask |
| J | Vision | What you will have achieved 5 years from now |
TIP
Of these 10 sections, D (Why Now) and J (Vision) are slides that almost never appear in a government application. Since government programs hinge on policy fit, they never ask you to justify your timing or articulate a long-term vision. In a pitch deck, both are mandatory.
04
#What + How-To: How the Same Company's Story Diverges Between a Business Plan and a Pitch Deck
Let's imagine a hypothetical fashion D2C company that describes itself as 'running vertical e-commerce.' Here's a side-by-side look at how its market slide diverges between a government application and a pitch deck.
| Axis | Government Application Tone | Pitch Deck Tone |
|---|
| Market size | "The domestic e-commerce market is ₩200T and growing every year" | TAM ₩200T (all e-commerce) / SAM ₩12T (fashion vertical) / SOM ₩120B (women in their 20s-30s, D2C, bottom-up) |
| Problem | "Inefficiency in existing distribution and declining consumer satisfaction" | Two personas of women in their 20s-30s, 28% average return rate, size-dissatisfaction NPS of -12 |
| Solution | "Building an AI-powered personalized recommendation platform" | Body-shape diagnosis -> guaranteed-fit exchange within 1 week, 42% repeat purchase rate, ₩112K average order value |
| Competition | "Offering a differentiated service versus leading players A and B" | A matrix of 3 direct and 2 indirect competitors + a one-line differentiator (body-shape diagnosis + fit exchange) |
| Financials | Total project cost ₩500M, grant ₩400M, matching funds ₩100M | Burn rate ₩42M/month / 12-month runway / seeking ₩800M seed round / 80% of funds to growth marketing and CAC validation |
Where a government application focuses on 'what we will do' (the What), a pitch deck has to answer the What plus 'how, and through what stages' (the How-To) on the same slide. If 'targeting the vertical e-commerce market' is the What, then 'Phase 1: women in their 20s-30s, Phase 2: men in their 30s-40s, Phase 3: expansion into Japan' is the How-To.
주의
If you're targeting a vertical commerce market in a specific category, which customer segments you'll grow through in what order, and which differentiators and marketing strategy will get you there, all need to fit on one slide. A slide that states only the What isn't a pitch deck — it's a company brochure.
05
#The Length Trap: A First-Meeting Deck and an Investment-Committee Deck Are Different Documents
Plenty of founders think they've finished 'the pitch deck' and carry that single version to every meeting. A first-meeting deck and an investment-committee deck differ in length, audience, and even Q&A time.
| Axis | First-Meeting Deck | Investment-Committee Deck |
|---|
| Audience | 1-2 deal-team partners or associates | Multiple other partners and associates beyond the deal team |
| Length (body) | ~15 slides, excluding appendix | 30+ slides, excluding appendix |
| Time | 20-30 min presentation + 30 min Q&A (60-90 min total) | 30+ min presentation + 30+ min Q&A (~90 min total) |
| Audience's prior knowledge | Nearly none (first pass on business model, team, funding size) | Already briefed in advance via the investment memo |
| Depth | Core business model + team + funding amount and timing, made crystal clear | Down to unit economics, cohort data, 3-year financials, and sensitivity analysis |
| Presenter | CEO alone (occasionally with CTO) | CEO (other partners also want to meet the CEO directly) |
| Appendix | Light, if present at all | An anticipated-Q&A appendix is essential — recurring questions should be folded into the main body |
TIP
Bring a 30-slide investment-committee deck to a first meeting and you'll run out of time before getting through half of it. Bring a 15-slide first-meeting deck to an investment committee and it sends the message 'is this all this company has to show us?' A pitch deck isn't one document — it's two, built for two different stages.
06
#The 5 Most Common Conversion Mistakes
Here are the five most common mistakes founders make when converting a government business plan or company brochure into a pitch deck. They're also the patterns that get a deck cut fastest at a first meeting.
- The cover slide has only a logo with no one-line declarative statement (Company Purpose) — the reader can't tell what the company does in the first five seconds
- The team slide sits in the appendix or at the very end, listing only names and titles — background, experience, and how the founders met are all missing
- The market slide shows just one big TAM number — no SAM/SOM breakdown, and no cited source for the calculation
- There's no competitor slide, or just one competitor — or a matrix claiming superiority on every dimension
- The final page just says 'thank you,' with no funding need, use of funds, or milestones — the ask slide is missing entirely
주의
Mistake #5 — a missing ask slide — is the most telling trace of leftover business-plan tone in a pitch deck. A business plan exists to pass review, so it ends with a timeline and a thank-you; a pitch deck has to end with 'how much, for what, and by when.'
07
#Business Plan to Pitch Deck Conversion Checklist
This is an action guide for restructuring an existing business plan or government application into a pitch deck, slide by slide. Some of these conversions amount to building the slide from scratch, while others let you reuse material you already have.
| Slide | What You Can Reuse from Your Business Plan | What You Need to Build from Scratch |
|---|
| A. Company Purpose | Your company vision statement | A one-line declarative statement + CEO contact info |
| B. Problem | Part of the 'background' section | 2-3 personas + quantitative metrics (NPS, return rate, etc.) |
| C. Solution | Part of the 'business description' section | A concrete use case + differentiated value |
| D. Why Now | Almost nothing | The timing of a tech, regulatory, or trend shift (net-new) |
| E. Market | The TAM figure from 'market analysis' | A TAM/SAM/SOM breakdown + a bottom-up SOM formula |
| F. Competition | Part of 'competitive landscape' | A direct/indirect competitor matrix + a one-line unfair advantage |
| G. Business Model | Part of 'revenue structure' | Core metrics by category (MAU/MRR/CAC/LTV) + current figures |
| H. Team | Part of 'organizational structure' | How the co-founders met + equity split + key members' background and experience |
| I. Financial | The revenue table from 'financial plan' | 3-year revenue + burn rate + funding ask and use of funds |
| J. Vision | Part of your company vision statement | What you'll look like in 5 years + long-term vision storytelling |
TIP
In practice, slides A, B, G, and H are roughly reusable, while D, E, F, I, and J need to be written almost entirely from scratch. Even with a well-written government business plan in hand, building a pitch deck typically takes another 2-3 weeks on top of it.
Summary.
#Self-Check Checklist
- Does the cover slide have a one-line declarative Company Purpose statement and the CEO's contact info? (the 5-second rule)
- Do you have separate decks for first meetings (15 slides) and investment committees (30+ slides)?
- Is the team slide in the main body (section H), not the appendix, and does it include names, backgrounds, experience, equity, and how the founders met?
- Does the market slide break out TAM, SAM, and SOM separately, with a bottom-up basis for SOM?
- Does the competitor slide include both direct and indirect competitors, with a one-line unfair advantage stated?
- Does the financial slide include a 3-year revenue plan, burn rate, funding ask, and use-of-funds breakdown, all together?
- Does the deck end not with 'thank you' but with the ask (amount needed / use of funds / milestones / vision)?
- Is it saved as a PDF? (never send the raw native file format)
CTA
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